The Computational Mathematics department has brought cutting edge nonlinear wave labs to the Embry-Riddle community. Their efforts allow students, faculty and industry to experiment and use the facilities for important research, resulting in numerous internal and external grants from industry and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Nonlinear Waves Lab

The Computational Mathematics department has brought cutting edge nonlinear wave labs to the Embry-Riddle community. Their efforts allow students, faculty and industry to experiment and use the facilities for important research, resulting in numerous internal and external grants from industry and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The first nonlinear wave laboratory — located in the Engineering Building — contains a fully-functional wave tank with dimensions of 16' x 4' x 4'. This lab, designed and built by mathematics faculty, has attracted undergraduate and graduate students that develop research in the areas of hydrodynamics and fluid mechanics.

The new Center for Nonlinear Waves, founded by the Computational Mathematics faculty and located in the College of Arts & Sciences building, is the second state-of-the-art wave tank (32' x 4' x 4') with data acquisition hardware and computation. The tank will have a tsunami generator, modern wavemaker with feedback control, actuators with paddles, oscilloscopes, an automatic leveling system for water height, and a small air tunnel on top of the tank. Additionally, the wave tank will include a complete Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system, a laser induced fluoresce system, Doppler acoustic velocimeter and HD video cameras.

Through the Center for Nonlinear Waves, students will be able to lead data collection efforts by performing 3D simulations and visualizing the results using a data wall with high storage computers. The Lab will blend three specific components for student engagement: